Tag: Eurographics

Review: Golf Around the World

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
IMG_4073
Golf Around the World – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

Collages really make me happy, and Golf Around the World was no different. I don’t even like golf! I enjoy the 4 hours or so I get to myself when my husband goes golfing, but golf just isn’t for me unless it’s in puzzle form. ⛳

Eurographics puzzles are good quality, and they have an excellent catalog of puzzles to choose from. They’ve got many beautiful collages, along with a great number of educational puzzles for both children and adults; I love the informational puzzles! From fine art to cartoons, there are plenty of interesting puzzles to choose from. Their pieces are thick and sturdy, and fit together well. The pieces of this puzzle were a bit snug, but it wasn’t extreme. The finish is slightly shiny, but otherwise crisp and clear with bright, beautiful colors. Eurographics puzzles have a random cut, which I find interesting, but not everyone enjoys the non-traditional piece shapes. Check out all their puzzles currently available at Puzzle Warehouse by clicking the link above.

This puzzle went together very quickly – collages usually do in my house. It’s hard to walk away, because finishing one small section leads to the next and so on. I loved all the colors in this image, there’s something really beautiful about the vintage posters. The illustrations are detailed and lovely, much more interesting than the posters and ads we have these days in my humble opinion. Collage puzzles are my favorite 🙂 , click to see the pages and pages of fun to assemble collages available at Puzzle Warehouse.

I’m not sure if this puzzle is going to be framed for hubby or not, we’ve already done several puzzles that have been glued and framed; we may be running out of wall space! This puzzle would be an excellent wall hanging for a golf lover, and as a bonus it’s a puzzle that’s a LOT of fun to assemble!

Details:

  • Title:                  Golf Around the World
  • Artist:                Eurographics
  • Brand:               Eurographics
  • Piece count:     1000 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 19 x 27 in. (49 x 68 cm)
  • Purchased:      n/a

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Average
  • Fit:                     Good, a bit tight
  • Puzzle Dust:     Moderate amount
  • Piece cut:          Random cut
  • Piece shapes:   Good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Come To Switzerland By Plane

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments
IMG_3763
Come to Switzerland By Plane by Michael Crampton – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

I had high hopes for this puzzle. Mom thought it would be as difficult as Chat Noir with all the sameness in color in the top portion. I didn’t think it would be that bad as the sky was 2 different colors, blah blah blah. Long story short, she was partly right. The top portion was quite difficult and tedious. I should have listened to her. Sorry mom.

Eurographics puzzles are usually random cut, and this one is a grid cut. I thought that would make the assembly of the sky easier. Nope. There’s something about the way this puzzle was cut, the pieces didn’t seem to fit together well. In my opinion it made it more difficult to complete the sky, not easier. In addition there are several pieces near the top that have the image scratched off, they look like white specks of color. I’ve never come across this problem with Eurographics before, but it was disappointing. This puzzle was a thrift store purchase, but it was unopened. The outer plastic wrapping was still intact, so it wasn’t an issue with it having been done before.

All in all, I love the image but it didn’t make for the most enjoyable puzzling; and the quality issues didn’t help matters. You’d think we would learn by now, even if we love the image that doesn’t mean it’s the best for puzzling. Even just a few more clouds in the sky would have helped immensely.

Still, I definitely got our 99 cents worth out of this puzzle, it had me working for almost 4 days! Hopefully I’ll listen to my mother next time. (You know, I won’t because I’m super stubborn and opinionated, but I’ll try – that’s the best I can do 😁)

 

Chat Noir

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments
IMG_3654
Chat Noir by Steinlen – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

This is an interesting image, but in my opinion it isn’t ideal for puzzling. There’s too much flat color, and with a random cut it was extremely difficult to find the proper piece. We’ve found that sometimes the “coolest looking” puzzle isn’t one you’d want to assemble; that was definitely the case here.

Mom did the majority of this one, I helped when I could; but it was a bear! Boy were we ever happy when we finally finished it. And I don’t think I’ve ever said this about a puzzle – I’m glad a piece was missing. I truly am. There was something very satisfying about putting this bleeping puzzle in the trash once we had conquered it. 😈

Review: Tsuki Hoshi

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse. 
IMG_3369
Tsuki Hoshi by Haruyo Morita – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

When I received some puzzles and products to review, this puzzle jumped out at me immediately. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the colors are stunning; I knew right away that this puzzle would be the first one I assembled – and I wasn’t disappointed!

Tsuki Hoshi (which my oldest son tells me means Moon Star), is only the second or third puzzle from Eurographics that I’ve completed; they are a very good quality puzzle in my opinion. This puzzle took me 3 days to complete, which is about my average time for a 1000 piece puzzle.

There were no damaged pieces or pieces still attached to one another in the bag and there was little to no puzzle dust. The pieces feel thick and sturdy and fit together well, but not too tightly. This puzzle was a random cut so it was never boring and you don’t think a piece fits where it doesn’t belong. The image reproduction is very good with beautiful colors and a slightly glossy finish that can cause some glare when working under lights.

Besides the small amount of glare, my only issue with this puzzle is that the piece shape is very obvious in the lighter areas of the finished image. This isn’t a problem for the entire puzzle, the kimono itself and the darker areas of water do not show the piece shape nearly as much. I don’t believe this was an issue with the other Eurographics puzzles I’ve completed, so I may have gotten a puzzle from the end of the run. No matter, the obvious piece shape didn’t make it any less fun to put together, I still had a great time! 🙂

My daughter loves the image on this puzzle, so I’ll be gluing it together to frame for her. Sometimes when you glue a puzzle the glue helps to lessen the appearance of the piece shapes, so I’m hoping that holds true with this puzzle as well. But even if you can see the puzzle pieces, it’s still a beautiful image that will look great framed! I have some puzzle glue to review as well, so stay tuned in the next week or so and I’ll have pictures of the puzzle before and after gluing.

This was my first puzzle by Haruyo Morita, and I find her artwork amazingly beautiful and detailed – I will definitely be looking to work more puzzles with her artwork. Click here to see other puzzles from this artist available at Puzzle Warehouse.

The finished puzzle is 19.25 x 26.625 in. (48.89 x 67.63 cm), which makes a nice large image for framing. The box is on the smaller side for a 1000 piece puzzle, 8 inches (20.32 cm) square, but is well made and sturdy with the full image on the cover and the artist and title prominently displayed. One side has a smaller version of the entire image along with the company name, piece count, artist, and title which would be ideal for shelving either vertically or horizontally.

Tsuki Hoshi is a beautiful puzzle by Eurographics with an image that is excellent for puzzling; many shades of color, background items, and a random cut ensures an assembly experience that isn’t tedious or frustrating. I enjoyed this assembly from start to finish – the image is beautiful, the random cut kept my attention and the finished product will look lovely framed. The finish is slightly shiny so take care when working the darker areas at night under lights. If you are a fan of Asian art, Haruyo Morita, or just love this image I definitely recommend this puzzle! 👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

 

 

 

 

Civil War Generals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
img_2277
Civil War Generals – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

What a fun puzzle! It was refreshing after working the large Cinderella section to have a puzzle where I barely had to look at the box and could put together large sections of it. I’m not sure I would call it a collage, but it felt that way to me. Really relaxing and entertaining, along with educational.

The Eurographics brand is quite good – random cut, good thickness,  and the image was crisp. Really fun to assemble; it was easy to pull out all the words and put those together, then the flags, etc. The frames for the Union and Confederate generals were different as well, so that made the portraits easy to pull out and assemble too.

Under each general’s name was a short bio including dates of birth and death, major battles and campaigns participated in, and place of burial. I had never heard of many of these men and I learned a lot.

And oh my the facial hair – mutton chops for days, impressive beards and fantabulous mustaches!